Atlanta Allergy & Asthma News

Important Update Regarding Novel Coronavirus, COVID-19 - March 13, 2020

Updated on Friday, March 13, 2020

While the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is a rapidly changing and fluid situation from a public health perspective, we are committed to keeping you informed and to taking care of you, our patients.

Our team at Atlanta Allergy & Asthma continues to monitor daily for new information from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH). With the reported spread of the novel coronavirus, our team is taking additional precautions to protect our patients and staff from exposure.

In early March we implemented the recommended CDC screening tool. Patients were screened as appointments were scheduled and again upon arrival at our offices. The screen includes questions regarding recent travel, recent symptoms, and exposure to others with a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19.

We have now added additional precautions to mitigate the spread of the virus:

  • Screening and assessing of symptoms as patients and guests enter the front door of offices.
  • Implementation of telehealth visits for all appropriate patients.
  • Daily screening of employees for any change in their health status.
  • Instituting additional cleaning protocols for common areas and exam rooms.
  • Increased frequency for cleaning of equipment.
  • Available masks if a patient presents with COVID-19 symptoms.
  • Designating specific room and staff for any patient that presents with COVID-19 symptoms.
  • Re-configuring waiting areas to allow for social distancing
  • Removal of non-essential items from waiting areas and exam rooms (magazines, toys, books, etc.).
  • Supplying ‘one-time-use’ pens at front desks.

Additional information on protecting yourself from exposure to coronavirus/COVID-19 is available from the CDC.

We understand that after-school hours for allergy shot patients are often busy times at our offices. With most school systems closed, we hope some of you will consider coming at different times of the day, thereby allowing for ‘social distancing’ as recommended by the experts.

Again, if you are concerned you may have a serious infectious disease, your best course of action is to contact your primary care physician’s office or local emergency department and follow their directives. At this time, testing is not available in our offices for Flu or COVID-19. Patients with fever should reschedule appointments. Due to the greater risk to our respiratory disease patients, we ask that patients are fever-free for two weeks before entering our waiting rooms. Immunotherapy patients should be fever-free for two weeks before receiving an injection. Contact your Atlanta Allergy & Asthma office for guidance.

Our goal is to keep our environments safe and to continue to provide continuity of care for our patients with allergic diseases and asthma.

  • For at least the next several weeks, we ask our patients to limit the number of guests they bring to our offices.
  • As we work towards 'social distancing' in our waiting areas, we ask that only patients and essential guests (parents/guardians, caregivers) come for appointments and injection visits.
  • Everyone will be screened at the door following CDC recommendations prior to entering the office.

As we all do our part to stop this virus, we thank you in advance for your cooperation!

The safety and welfare of our patients and their families, as well as our staff, is of the utmost importance to Atlanta Allergy & Asthma. Our team is working diligently to monitor and adapt as new information about the novel virus, COVID-19 becomes available. Stay tuned for additional updates via our website, Facebook and Twitter.

Physicians and Staff of Atlanta Allergy & Asthma